Golden Willow Tree- (KY) pre1917 (1914) McGill
[No informant, specific place (state was Kentucky) or date supplied. It was collected by Josephine McGill (1877-1919) in the Hindeman Settlement School region of Kentucky during the summers of 1914-1916 and published in her 1917 book, Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains. Since it was collected in her first week the date should be 1914. Compare to Wells (1915) Sharp 1932, and Ritchie.
Although she doesn't give the informant's name she describes him. Here's an except from McGill's Musical Quarterly article in 1917:
"Following Music" in a Mountain Land
by Josephine McGill
The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Jul., 1917), pp. 364-384
"During the collector's first week in the mountains she was told of a man who could sing all night without repeating himself. As became so gifted a personage, for some time he was so elusive as to arouse suspicions of being merely mythical. But, with his supreme reputation, he seemed worth waiting for. Worth waiting upon, suggested one of his friends who advised a morning's pilgrimage to his house for the sake of persuading him to come sing to us. When we discovered him in his little woodland retreat at the head of a creek, we were tempted to suspect that shy reserve rather than august aloofness had been depriving us of his presence. The actual fact was that his cow had run off the day before and he had been busy seeking it. He was a quiet little man who had been something of a traveller and had at one time taught school; these experiences had given him a touch of dignity and amenity. With polite compliance he consented to return with us; so we set forth down the green slopes, my companion and I on horseback, the troubadour on foot—drifting into the woods now and then to take short cuts and thereby causing us no little anxiety lest he and his marvellous repertoire might utterly vanish. Finally he borrowed a mule and thereafter closely followed, enabling the ballad-seeker to pursue the journey with a serener mind.
When once heard, this gentle bard proved well worth anticipation and resolute capture. In the entire quest no experience gave keener delight than his singing of The Golden Willow Tree and The Cherry Tree Carol, to name his choicest numbers. One version of The Golden Willow Tree has as its hero Sir Walter Raleigh "sailing in the lowlands low" where his ship, "The Sweet Trinity," is seized by "a false gallaly." In the mountain version the sole hero is "the little bold cabin boy." To hear the troubadour with unique rhythmic effects recount the story, to note the enjoyment of the listeners, to relish one's own delight, is to be freshly aware of the charm of an imaginative musical and literary composition and an artistic rendition of the same. One of the characteristic practices of the mountain singers is to ornament the tunes according to their own fancy-words, syllables, as well as notes being liberally added. Sir Charles Villiers Stanford notes this tendency among Hungarian and Irish musicians, a tendency encountered also among more primitive peoples. The effects thus produced, so different from those conventionally heard, stimulate speculation upon the mysterious sources of mood and emotion, personal or atavistic, which inspire such rhythmic. elaboration. Genuine if singular pleasure was it to note the original melodic phrasing of these lines:
I had a little ship and I sailed her on the sea,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low!";
I had a little ship and I sailed her on the sea,
And she went by the name of The Golden Willow Tree,
As she sailed in the lowlands low, low, low,
As she sailed in the lowlands low."
There's little doubt that this is this version (text below)- since the text is identical.
R. Matteson 2014]
THE "GOLDEN WILLOW TREE."
I had a little ship, and I sailed her on the sea,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low;"
I had a little ship, and I sailed her on the sea,
And she went by the name of the "Golden Willow Tree."
As we sailed in the lowlands low, low, low,
As we sailed in the lowlands low.
We hadn't been sailing past weeks two or three,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low;"
We hadn't been sailing past weeks two or three,
Till we came in sight of the British robberie,
As we sailed in the lowlands low, low, low,
As we sailed in the lowlands low.
Then up spake our little bold cabin boy,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low;"
Then up spake our little bold cabin boy,
Saying: "What will you give me if the ship I will destroy?"
As we sailed in the lowlands low, low, low,
As we sailed in the lowlands low.
"O I will give you gold, or I will give you fee,"
Crying: "O the land that lies so low;"
"O I will give you gold, or I will give you fee,
Or I'll give to you my daughter to sail with you on the sea,
If you'll sink her in the lowlands low, low, low,
If you'll sink her in the lowlands low."
He turned upon his breast, and away swam he,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low;"
He turned upon his breast, and away swam he,
And he swam till he came to the British robberie,
As we sailed in the lowlands low, low, low,
As we sailed in the lowlands low.
He had a little instrument prepared for the use,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low;"
He had a little instrument prepared for the use,
And he bored nine holes, and he bored them all at once,
As we sailed in the lowlands low, low, low,
As we sailed in the lowlands low.
"O Captain, Captain, take me on board,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low,"
"O Captain, Captain, take me on board,
And be unto me as good as your word,
For I've sunk her in the lowlands low, low, low,
For I've sunk her in the lowlands low."
"I will not take you in on board,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low,"
"I will not take you in on board,
Nor be unto you as good as my word,
Though you've sunk her in the lowlands, low, low, low,
Though you've sunk her in the lowlands low."
"If it wasn't for the love that I bear for your men,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low,"
If it wasn't for the love that I bear for your men,
I would do unto you as I've done unto them,
I would sink you in the lowlands low, low, low,
I would sink you in the lowlands low."
He turned upon his head, and down went he,
Crying: "O the land that lies so low;"
He turned upon his head, and down went he,
And he sank himself to the bottom of the sea,
As we sailed in the lowlands low, low, low,
As we sailed in the lowlands low.